CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 185 km round trip from Morella - roughly 3 h 43 in the saddle. The stops in between: Abric del mas dels Ous, Cova dels Cavalls, La Covassa and back through Cova dels Cavalls. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,200 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
Morella rises from the plateau of the Ports like something from a dream: a walled town wrapped around a rocky hill, crowned by a castle, with the Gothic basilica of Santa María la Mayor in the middle, and two kilometres of medieval walls with towers and gates running around the base. It is one of the most impressive historic towns in Spain, and the Galeria del Roure, a rock shelter about four kilometres away, is part of the cluster of prehistoric sites around Morella, including Morella la Vella, one of the important rock-art sites of the Valencian region, all part of the UNESCO listing of Mediterranean rock art. The shelters are small and some are protected, so ask at the tourist office in town about visits.
Read the complete Galeria del Roure write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Galeria del Roure is where the day begins. Next is Abric del mas dels Ous.
Xert is the kind of village you pass through on the way to somewhere else and then wonder why you did not stop. It lies in the Baix Maestrat in northern Castellón, below a ridge of bare limestone, with the old village climbing the slope and a newer part down by the road. The shelter called the Abric del Mas dels Ous, the shelter of the farmhouse of the eggs, is out in the dry hills nearby, between Xert, Canet lo Roig and Rosell.
Read the complete Abric del mas dels Ous write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abric del mas dels Ous comes up about 38 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cova dels Cavalls.
A line of archers closing in on a herd of deer, one animal already wounded and fleeing: the hunting scene in the Cova dels Cavalls is one of the most reproduced images of Spanish prehistoric art, and it sits in the Barranc de la Valltorta, a dry limestone gorge in the Castellón hinterland between Albocàsser and Tírig. The Valltorta shelters, together with nearby Gasulla, form one of the key groups of Levantine rock art, and the Museu de la Valltorta near Tírig runs guided visits to the main shelter and explains the paintings with replicas and finds. Check visiting times at the museum before you set off, because the shelter is only seen with a guide.
Read the complete Cova dels Cavalls write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 59 km into the recorded legs you reach Cova dels Cavalls. Next is La Covassa.
Culla sits on a narrow rocky crest in the Alt Maestrat, the inland highlands of Castellón, its houses wrapped around the remains of a castle that once controlled a large swathe of these mountains. The Knights Templar held it in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and the village still has the feel of a lookout, with views in every direction over terraced slopes, stone walls and empty ridges. La Covassa, just below the village, is one of the many rock shelters in this part of Valencia that hold prehistoric paintings, part of the Mediterranean rock art group that UNESCO protects across eastern Spain.
Read the complete La Covassa write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
La Covassa, about halfway. Next is back through Cova dels Cavalls.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cova dels Cavalls write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Cova dels Cavalls sits at 108 km, about halfway. Next is back through Abric del mas dels Ous.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abric del mas dels Ous write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Abric del mas dels Ous comes up about 147 km into the recorded legs. Next is Galeria del Roure.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Galeria del Roure write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Galeria del Roure closes the day.
Galeria del Roure → Abric del mas dels Ous is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abric del mas dels Ous → Cova dels Cavalls is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cova dels Cavalls → La Covassa is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
La Covassa → back through Cova dels Cavalls is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cova dels Cavalls → back through Abric del mas dels Ous is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abric del mas dels Ous → Galeria del Roure is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.